Antennas convert electrical energy into radio waves and received radio waves into electrical energy. Antennas are typically used in combination with a radio frequency transmitter or generator, in which the transmitter or generator is configured to generate radio frequency electrical signals based upon a suitable input signal. Those radio frequency electrical signals are communicated to the antenna through a transmission line. When the radio frequency electrical signals are applied to the antenna, the antenna, in turn, radiates the energy from the electrical signal as radio waves.
Radio frequency power amplifiers are electronic amplifiers that convert a relatively low-power input signal into a high-power radio frequency signal for transmission or energy transfer via a suitably-configured antenna or radiation element. Radio frequency power amplifiers typically include power transistors that generate the high-power signal and control that signal's application to the system's antenna.
In conventional power amplifier designs, each additional component and each additional connection between components of the radio frequency power amplifier system may burden the manufacturing of the system. The additional connections can increase losses, reducing amplifier efficiency, and can increase the risk that the system may function improperly or fail—particularly when those connections are made by an end user installing or constructing the radio frequency power amplifier system. As such, it may be desirable to simplify the fabrication of radio frequency power amplifier systems in a manner that may minimize the losses between the radio frequency power amplifier and the antenna of the radio frequency power amplifier system.